Scientists Report New Coral Bleaching Event on Great Barrier Reef

2022-05-15

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  • Australian scientists say 91 percent of coral studied in the Great Barrier Reef this year suffered bleaching damage.
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  • Coral gets bleached when ocean temperatures reach unusually warm levels.
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  • The damage to the Great Barrier Reef represents the fourth mass bleaching event to happen in the past seven years, the scientists said.
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  • Bleaching in 2016, 2017 and 2020 was blamed for damaging two-thirds of the Great Barrier Reef's coral.
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  • The Great Barrier Reef covers about 344,000 square kilometers of area off Australia's northeast coast.
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  • It contains about 3,000 reefs, natural structures made by different kinds of coral.
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  • The reef also includes more than 900 islands.
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  • The latest bleaching event is described in a yearly report recently released by the Australian government's Great Barrier Reef Marine Authority.
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  • Coral bleaching can be caused by the effects of climate change.
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  • But the scientists said the most recent event was the reef's first bleaching to happen during a La Niña weather period.
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  • A La Niña event happens when ocean surface waters cool along the Pacific coast of the South American tropics.
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  • This takes place every two to seven years.
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  • Coral suffers bleaching as a reaction to heat stress.
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  • But scientists hope that most of the coral will recover from the current event, said David Wachenfeld.
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  • He is the chief scientist at the country's Marine Authority, which oversees the reef's ecosystem.
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  • Wachenfeld told The Associated Press that early signs so far suggest "the mortality won't be very high."
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  • He compared the latest event to the one that happened in 2020.
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  • That event produced mass bleaching, but there was low mortality, meaning the coral largely did not die.
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  • The bleaching events in 2016 and 2017 led to "quite high levels of coral mortality," Wachenfeld said.
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  • Simon Bradshaw is a researcher at Australia's Climate Council environmental group.
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  • He told the AP the latest report demonstrates that the reef's survival depends on deep cuts in worldwide carbon emissions over the next 10 years.
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  • "This is heartbreaking. This is deeply troubling," Bradshaw said.
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  • "It shows that our Barrier Reef really is in very serious trouble."
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  • I'm Bryan Lynn.